ma matalin and herman cain and mitt romney atop the pack. watch for santorum who will go after cain quite hard. a lot at stake. the eighth debate of the republican campaign. ron paul making his way. the debate is one hour away and to get you there, erin burnett out front starts right now. erin, take it away. las vegas for tonight's cnn gop debate. the set has been built and it was an amazing process and we have a formal countdown on. even the bells are tolling in honor of this debate. it's almost like venice for real. the tea party, a big one. just how much has the tea party defined the gop? and the bottom line on the economy, it's the biggest issue in the nation right now. each of the candidates think their tax plan is the right one and we'll take a closer look as

the bells ring, let's go out front. hello, everyone. out front live in las vegas. feels good to say that. we're just an hour away. we have seven republican candidates squaring off for their party's nomination to challenge president barack obama next november. >> herman cain surging in the polls to defend his front of runner status. rick perry could be dropping and that could be the comeback story of the night and mitt romney, slow, but steady. in a poll released this morning and lagging behind cain in likability, can he pull more gop voters to the side? we have a lot lined up for you. we want to begin with two of our special guests, john avalon, senior economist for "news week"

and the daily beast, cnn chief political analyst and all of this action was buzzing around as the show began. >> a lot of people over there. >> the motorcycles came. that's right. >> they've got a lot to prove, gloria. >> sure is. >> and i think this will be a transition thing because we're going to see if rick perry can withstand the attacks and whether mitt romney is going to be able to remain above the fray attacking barack obama laying in wait. >> that's herman cain arriving. >> it was sort of a bizarre thing. >> i saw four of the candidates today walking through the casino. >> nobody was at the table. >> nobody was at the table. that would have been a good story. >> they were lost in paradise, right? >> john and i were talking on the way to the airport, which

would be the candidate, if one were to gamble, who would be the most likely to go out and have a good time. this is an important campaign tonight -- debate tonight for perry, cain, romney, there isn't anyone that can coast here. >> as gloria said, herman cain has to be a realistic candidate for president. he can't be talking about electrified fences along the border. rick perry has the same problem he had in the last debate. he has to step up and be strong and be the conservative alternative to mitt romney, but he bailed, flopped and slum belled and slumped in the last debate and he said i'm just not good that the and mitt romney has to show that, look, i may have a ceiling at 25%. it's a real problem, but at the end of the day i can be president. >> i'll tell you where mitt romney does not have a ceiling in the new poll today and that's electability. he's gone from the mid-20s to

the mid-40s. that's huge. it's clear among republicans that people are starting to say, you know what? he may be the guy who is best able to take on barack obama, but it's a question of whether the tea partiers can actually sort of say, all right, we'll hold our nose and in the end we may go with him. >> we'll talk to the tea party in a couple of minutes because i'm curious if you have a top of the ticket who they don't love. >> the palin model. >> it had down sides last time. >> ultimately right now the question of the republican party, is electability versus ideology and if mitt romney does get the pass because he's aye an electable candidate, he has to have a candidate who has more enthusiasm from the base and the tea party and that could come with the cost of appealing to swing voters and independent voters and right now this is all about trying to get the republican party and there's an additional test beyond the horse race. it is who tonight can stand up in term of policies.

they can reshape the national debate and help folks in the economy. >> perry has to come with the plan. >> we've been going through all of them and laying them out and actually, you've got bold plans from cain. >> mind points. >> 161 pages. >> right. okay. >> he likes odd numbers. that's all i can say. >> but nothing from perry. >> perry needs a plan, and he told us he was going to have his jobs scomplan we got an energy plan, but we're kind of waiting for that. i doubt he'll introduce it tonight, but he might be under. >> if he loses or if he doesn't shine tonight. does it matter? if he's trying to say i'm just not good at this, can you get away with that? >> i think it really matters because republicans are watching these debates and 51% of tea party voters say that it's actually made them change their minds according to a pugh poll.

he may say it's just the media, and this is an echo chamber and republicans are in it and they're watching and that's why he's falling in the polls. >> he's a strong retail politician, but you can't say i'm just not good at asking questions and communicating directly to the american people and he's not going to be a good president at the end of the day. >> three-quarters of voters were undecided. not only are they watching, but they're listening. >> here's the thing herman cain has. people like him. they like him. >> i don't know if you saw it it had literally everybody over here on likability and herman cain. people really like him. >> and it matters because voting for president is a personal vote, and you really want to like the person. that was something that cost hillary clinton a bit of trouble in the democratic primary and she didn't do too well on likability and it hurt her. >> we'll have both of you back later in the hour, so thank you

very much. we've been talking about this and going through the plans for all of the candidates. rick perry has an energy plan and not really an economic plan, but the economy is the biggest issue right now in the country and there is no place where that is more obvious than the foreclosure and unemployment capital of the country. that's where we're sitting right now, las vegas, nevada. the candidates believe cutting taxes will help america grow aga again. grover norquist. i wanted to start by asking you about herman cain's 9-9-9 plan. i've seen the headlines and you're not a 9-9-9 fan and perhaps you think the 9-9-9 plan would be consist went your pledge to not raise taxes. what do you think of it? >> well, the pledge is constructed, i understand, is revenue neutral, so it doesn't violate the pledge, the taxpayer protection pledge that all of the presidential candidates except huntsman has signed as a commitment to the american people that they'll veto any tax

increase and they will not allow a tax increase and tax reform is fine. 9-9-9 is not a tax increase. the concern about 9-9-9 is it sets up a 9% value-added tax, japanese-style value-added tax, a 9% -- >> right. >> a 9% sales tax and a 9% income tax. every one of these little things could begin to grow over time. i'm a little concerned that rather than taking the present, messy income tax and chopping it back, we're creating three entity, three little tape worms that could decide to grow into big tape worms. >> there's an interesting analysis today that says that the vast majority of americans would get a net tax increase under herman cain's plan even though overall, supposedly, and i know that's also a question, but supposedly, revenues would remain neutral. isn't that a tax increase? >> well, the pledge is no net tax increase on the entire economy.

politically, you have to face, if you're shifting from taxes from one person to another, you have to make that case to the american people, but the pledge is simply no increasing the total tax burden on the american people. the other plan -- >> so i want to make sure -- sorry. i want to ask you about the other plans and i want to make sure you're understanding completely and philosophically what you're saying because this is very important, vis-a-vis not just the republicans plan and the president's plan. if i closed the loophole and the corporate rate, closing the loopholes is, as long as the revenue is the same, right? >> right. absolutely. it was helped to pass the tax reform act of '86. tax reform, that's good. >> okay. so now let's talk about the individual plans. we've gone through them and they have a few things in common. they want to repeal dodds-frank and repeal the bill. and they a move for corporate

taxes. -- oh, we're looking now at newt gingrich arriving. as you can see, we're just showing you the candidates as they come in, grover. pardon the interruption so viewers can see them arriving. what do you think rick perry has to do and why has he not been more specific? he hasn't come out with a very specific plan. >> right. rick perry's advantage is that he was governor for ten years. he has a track record. he opposed tax increases and he reduced taxes and he did a great deal of reduction and spending. he took on the trial lawyers, if you want to know what rick perry will do and you look at his success record as governor. he would rein in regulations and cut marginal tax rates. that's what he's done. i would like to see his plans for the federal taxes, but i can pretty much outline what they'd be given his history as governor of texas. he's been very good on size of government, pro-growth policy. some of these guys have track

records. some, like cain, doesn't have a track record so he needs a plan to make it clear who and what he is. >> all right. grover norquist, thanks so much and appreciate you taking the time tonight. >> sure. >> still out front, we'll talk about the tea party. the conservative movement takes credit for the tone of the debate, but how much influence does the tea party really have on the gop right now? well, they're going to come out front to talk about it and las vegas. tourism has been rising here for the past 18 months. the housing prices are down 60% from their highs. ed aelson is the owner of this hotel, the eighth richest man in america and he comes out front to talk about solutions and the candidates. it's the debate and we're counting you down less than an hour away. what do they need to accomplish, our panelists will be back and we'll see you in a minute.

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the number tonight, 45,000. that's the square footage of our debate set here in las vegas. you can watch it assemble here. our crews worked 24 hours straight starting at 6:00 p.m. on sunday and they finished the build on sunday night. we will have 1500 people in the audience and those seated in the

special red zone that you can see there will be able to talk and ask the candidates questions, but you can ask questions as we'll. tweet the questions t to #cnndebate. >> it's hard to state the influence the tea party has had on the republican party. the conservative anti-tax party take, all of whom are vying for the title of non not just republican, but tea party candidate. chairman of the tea party express. she's been a grassroots activist since 2009. amy, appreciate you taking the time. >> thanks for having me. >> i actually have it over here and a really interesting article in "the new york times" this beake weekend and the whole question as to whether it would become more mainstream and more part of the establishment and all of the candidate are vying for the tea party endorsement. which of the candidate here tonight is most, quote, unquote, tea party? >> you know, i think it's really

too early to tell. obviously, herman cane has a lot of momentum right now, but, you know, i would aren't count anybody out. we all know politics as fast as you rise up. you fall much faster. the people in this movement are waiting to hear who has the best ideas and solutions to truly turn the economy around and get us back on track? who is going to create the environment so that these businesses have the confidence to start jobs again, start hiring and bringing jobs back here from overseas, and that's what the people are looking for. >> so the tea party has been defined perhaps oversimplistically as it is all about cutting spending and that's really what it's all about and there's no room anywhere for taxes to increase on anybody. is that fair? >> i think it is fair. look, when you raise taxes you're asking to spend more. at some point you have to cut out the spending. you cannot raise enough taxes. if you taxed all of the rich of this country all of their money

it's not enough to pay for everybody. at some point, you have to cut the spending and that's what we want washington to do, and we are absolutely driving that debate, not when in america history have you heard the democratic party talk about cutting spending. so not only are we hearing the republicans, but the democrats, too, and that's the direction we need to go, erin. >> what about social issues? do they have any part in the tea party or is that where you say we're not going make this economic, and we're not going to have gay marriage, or abortion or immigration enter? >> it's all about fiscal responsibility and limited government and free markets. when you delve into the social issues that's when people are divided. you're never going get everybody to agree on that, but you can't deny that there are some people that the social issues are important and ultimately, what's going to determine how much of an affect this has is how people vote on election day. last election cycle people voted

based on the economy. this election cycle, i believe it will be the same thing. they'll be voting based on the economy and you will have some that vote on the social issue, but it's the economy that's driving this movement and quite frankly, everybody across america. >> i appreciate you taking the time to talk us to. we'll see what the candidates have to say and whether that gets a full tea party backing tonight. out front next, more than 35 million people come here to las vegas every year. only 14% of them actually come to hit the casinos. can you believe that? i wasn't sure that i did, but they spend on gaming. he built this hotel behind u the venetian and he comes out front next and it's the second day of the president's big jobs push. just how much will that influence the debate tonight? we'll be right back. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... while going shoeless and metal-free in seconds. and you...rent from national. because only national

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and you can see our countdown clock. we are under 40 minutes away from the beginning of the gop debate in las vegas. anderson cooper is sprucing up and getting ready to take it away when that debate start, but right now, a story we can't resister. one-liners, wise cracks and zingers are big parts of the debates. there have been funny line, the cost of a pizza and things like that. we've gotten a few laughs this year. >> when you take the 9-9-9 plan and you turn it upside down, i think the devil's in the

details. >> i think it's a catchy phrase, in fact, i think it was the price of a pizza. >> all right. this is nothing new, though. in 2003 howard dean used this line. >> well, if the percent of minorities that's in your state have anything to do with how to connect with african-american voters then trent lott would be martin luther king. >> okay. the line was not really his, though. a few days later it was revealed the political consultant james carville had actually giving it to him while filming the hbo show "k street." that was the first time the candidates are not always that quick or funny on their own. after all, they are running for president. many candidates hire professional writers to feed them lines ahead of time. to get them ready for one-liners, can't resist watching some of our favorites from the races. >> when i'm hearing your new

ideas i'm reminded of that ad, where's the beef, you know? >> i am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> i served with jack kennedy. i met jack kennedy. jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> if you don't try to compare george bush to harry truman, i won't compare you to jack kennedy. >> george bush taking credit for the berlin wall coming down is like the rooster taking credit for the sunrise. >> a few days ago senator clinton tried to spend $1 million on the woodstock concert museum. now, my friends, i wasn't there. i'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. >> rudy giuliani, there are only things he makes in a sentence, a

noun, a verb and 9/11. there's nothing else. >> we couldn't resist. there's something about going back in history and al gore looking so darn young. if you hear a particularly good one-liner let us been it. facebook, or twitter #outfront, cnn. they might expand the side of the bailout fund. this is a big story for the united states of america and we have details in the out front 5. we are over 30 minutes until tonight's big debate. i'm very excited. it's nice, hot, steamy here and time for good fights in las vegas and what about the candidate that isn't here? we'll go to new hampshire. jon huntsman is there for a town hall. we'll be right back. we're america's natural gas and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country...

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we start the second half of our show with stories we care about and find the out front five. number one tonight, the search for baby lisa. the kansas city police didn't went on the offensive accusing the parents of avoiding questions. police department officials told out front the couple's lack of cooperation is hurting the case. bradley irwin became uncomfortable and stopped answering questions on october 8th. the detectives have not had unrestricted access. he's 11 months old. >> the s&p rose 24 points and this puts it at its highest level since august. reports that france and germany

might expand the side of the bailout front for greece gave investors something to cheer about. robert pavlik of banyan partners told "out front" that despite the news out of europe earnings will continue to be out front for most investors. >> and speaking of earnings, apple coming out with a rare -- its first miss since 2004. apple was the second biggest company in the united states. $6.6 billion in the third quarter. the biggest came from iphone sales which may surprise you. remember it does not include sales for the iphone 4s which went on sale last week. a lot of people were waiting to buy that phone, so this week may just be temporary. bank earnings are really important for the market. bank of america and goldman reported earnings as well. goldman sachs, a larger than expected loss and when you look at details of the numbers it came pretty much in line which sent the stock higher. bank of america did better than expected. j.p. morgan is, assets totaling

2.289 trillion. it has been 74 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. who's counting? we are. because we want to know what they're doing to get it back. >> there is one candidate noticeably absent and he was the author of 9-9-9 being the cost for pizza jon huntsman. after nevada leapfrogged new hampshire on the calendar, he's put all of his bets on new hampshire, obviously, and this is a live shot where huntsman has chosen to focus most of his campaign time. it's all about new hampshire for his campaign. our "out front" team learned that the utah governor received $1,000 and he is $3 million in debt overall according to the fec. we're less than 30 minutes away from the town hall for the cnn western republican presidential debate here in las vegas. as the crowd pours in the candidates are putting on their game faces and you've been seeing them arrive over the past

hour. we've been showing you live pictures. the stakes are incredibly high before the iowa caucus and there's a lot at stake for everyone, but particularly for the three topping the polls. herman cain obviously came in very strong in the last debate and he won over voters with the smooth pitch for the 9-9-9 economic plan which faced criticism today and he is number one in likability, but for cain staying in the game means offering a whole lot more than salesmanship and he'll be challenged on the substance, not just by anderson, but by the audience and the like of ron paul. meantime, rick per could use some of the gift for gap. he has been noticeably absent during the debate so far. there have been some gaffes that have been hurting him. question, will he be able to become more than a late-night comedy show joke after these debaters on really hit a home run? that's the question. and mitt romney, on the again/off again front runner who has been facing attacks from both sides. that's the big question. you have newt gingrich also on the stage, michele bachmann, ron

paul and rick santorum all of them trying to get a word in edgewise. let's walk through the dos and don'ts of a debate, cnn contributor ari fleischer is here and kevin madden, spokesperson for mitt romney in the 2008 campaign and senior political analyst david gergen. okay. i have to take a deep breath. i had to go for a long time there. david gergen, let's start with you. who has the most gain tonight? >> i think herman cain, if he can take the punches tonight, and if he can convince people that he's a serious candidate and not just sort of the flavor of the month, he could -- he could become the anti-romney candidate and that's been the name of the game. who can be the alternative to romney? nobody's been able to hold that second position yet. >> what do you think rick perry needs to do tonight? >> rick perry needs to be aggressive. rick perry needs to be articulate and he needs to go after mitt romney. now he has to retake that ground and he's got the ability to do

it. he's gout the vulnerabilities of mitt romney that he can expose and he's articulate and on point and i can't understand why he has not done that yet in the debates. >> all right. what about mitt romney himself? your former guy. >> ultimately, these debates are -- they're a contest of who can be the most presidential. one of the reasons governor romney has performed so well, when he gets up on stage the contrast emerge and he doesn't have tos for them. he's the most articulate on the economy and the most command and control on the, everybody cares about. i don't think he has to do anything different. he has to keep doing that and keep wing the presidential contest with the candidates on stage. >> does likability matter? he's done better. it proved on that count, but he's still -- >> absolutely. and i think rick perry has done him a favor because mitt romney is a better debater now than he was on the campaign, but i think

he needs to start going beyond where he's been and he's been flat lining in the polls and he needs to solidify his position and he needs to start looking over his shoulder to the general and he'll start building up his likability among american voters in general. the more he does that, the more i think that he becomes the, in effect, candidate, the inevitable candidate for republicans and the strength is in his polls against obama. that's very, very important in the next few weeks. >> he's come out very wale on elect ability which fundamentally is more important than likability, but you'd like it if the two went together. >> let will be ideology that the voters vote on, and likablity and for one voter it might be more of one, less than the other and it adds up to the nominee. you don't vote for somebody if you like them and believe in them if they can't win. all three go together. >> right. i was bringing it up earlier.

i think "the new york times" magazine and the whole issue of the tea party, what is establishment gop? >> do you think that -- how important is a tea party sign-on endorsement for mitt romney at this point? >> i think the tea party is not a model that they block. this is a force within the electorate right now that's very focused on reform elements within the party. they want to see everybody, and they're very animated about the issues of spending and deficits and the growth of government. any candidate, if they'll want to get tea party support, they don't want to go out and say i am a tea party and they of the comprehensive vision about what they're going do to get government out of the way of the private sector. governor romney has done very well on that and that's where eventually wayne gretzky used to have a saying. i don't skate to where the puck is and i skate to where the puck will be. you're trying to make your message so when people go in there and they make their decision on the day on the

caucus or the day of the primary they're there with you. >> it's like my nieces and nephews with the gretzky comment. >> keep the hockey going. romney has turned into a great goalie. he keeps knocking the puck back and skates out to center ice with it. >> he needs to take a good shot at him. >> he needs to go on offense. >> when you're the front-runner everyone is coming at you. >> despite his vulnerabilities, that's to his credit. >> my sense is that perry tonight, in instead of going after romney he's got to puncture the balloon of cain so that when cain starts going down there's romney and perry. the longer perry has perry and kaifrn in the race the better off he is. >> if i'm perry i have to go up to romney and i have to go up to cain. santorum has to go up to cain. you have to count on them to make that fight for you and you concentrate on romney.

>> any fight would be good. i like watching them. thanks to all three. we really appreciate it and three people one what's going on out there. >> more than 35 million people come to las vegas and tourism may surprise youshgs despite the fact that housing houses have plunged from 60%, we've seen an increase in tourism for each of the past eight months. still for the city and the state, it is one of the worst outlooks economically and we went out front with sheldoned aelson. he owns with the ven eelgz where we're sitting right now. the host of tonight's debate and earlier today he told us the conditions are getting better after he met with all of the candidates. >> things are actually getting better. there are, on the f.i.t. side, the free and independent traveler, the leisure traveler typically comes to enjoy. by the way, you should know that only 14% of the people come to las vegas come to gamble. that means 86% come for something other. and we are the creators of what

is now called the integrated research which has a multi-amenity and multi-discipline package, cornucopia of different things to do like shopping, the exhibition center, the meeting and ballroom centrecomplex and the congress center. >> what about asia, though? i saw 90% of your bottom line and you have huge resorts in macau and in singapore. is asia where all of the growth is for you now? >> yes. asia is where the growth is. the asian people have a very high propensity to game. there are -- i mean, it would take a lot longer than the time we have here to explain it all, but the concept of challenging luck is part of the culture in asia. we're also contemplating and we're not finally committed and we're on the way to being

committed to build a half the equivalent of the las vegas strip. las vegas strip has 25 or 30 mega resorts. we're going to build 12 3,000-room mega resorts in spain for the 50 countries surrounding spain. >> in europe? >> in a five-hour flight. so we're going to make a big bet on europe and we've been doing a lot of studies and we've been getting second-opinion studies and it all looks like one study says that even when we're fully built out with 36,000 rooms we would have only penetrated 85% of the demand that there is today. >> we can only hope that he is right with that big bet on europe. that is an enormous bet and it would mean the european, the american and the whole global economy is stronger than people bet. still out front, day two of the president's jobs push. what it means for his

re-election chances and what it means for the debate. just over 20 minute away, what do the 20 minutes have to do tonight? we'll be right back. ♪ when your chain of supply ♪ goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there ♪ ♪ track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that ♪ hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪

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all right. we are just about 15 minutes away from the start of the debate here in las vegas. the gop debate, anderson cooper is getting ready to take it away from us for that.

lots of questions tonight on the economy and a lot more. >> as we count you down, we do this at the same time every night, we don't break tradition tonight. we take our sources around the world and give you some of the key headlines we are focused tonight. soldier e lat shalit celebrated his first day of freedom after five days in hamas captivity after israel agreed to release 5,000 palestinian prisoners. fred, i know hundreds turned out for the homecoming. describe the scene for us. >> reporter: erin, there were scenes of absolute jubilation in shalit's hometown as the convoy with him inside rolled into the small village. before coming here he was actually brought to an israeli military base where he met the israeli prime minister and also was reunited with his family for the first time. after leaving the convoy, after getting here, elat shalit went directly into his house and he said he would not be able to

speak to reporters and the public because he's entering a phase of recuperation. erin? >> thank you very much. now let's go to gaza where enormous crowds greeted the more than 1,000 palestinian prisoners that were released by israel in exchange for shalit. matthew chance is in gaza city for us tonight. i know it was an emotional story there as well. how are the former inmates celebrating tonight? >> reporter: erin, there have been huge celebrations in gaza tonight. tens of thousands of palestinians gathering in the main square, welcoming the released prisoners in an almost carnival-like atmosphere. the hamas militant group which runs gaza and which negotiated the exchange for gilad shalit is calling it a victory for all palestinians and vowing to find ways to force the release of the thousands of other palestinians still held in israeli jails. erin? >> matthew, thank you. and now to italy where a

milan judge today cleared italian prime minister silvio berl us cone ney a $45 million tax fraud case. becky anderson is in london tonight. becky, obviously if berl usconi escaped indictment, that's good for him, but does it put an end to his legal troubles. >> reporter: a judge today decided there was noe not enough evidence to pursue this against mr. berlusconi, but he still faces three active trials in milano charges including corruption, tax fraud and accusations he paid for sex with underaged girls. mr. berlusconi himself proclaims his innocence in all three outstanding cases and continues to accuse his enemies of just waging a campaign to ouster him from power. erin? >> becky, thank you. meantime, we are just about 15 minutes away from the cnn gop debate right here in las vegas, but it is also the president

that we have seen going out to push his agenda. president obama was out on the road pushing to pass his jobs bill today, urging an audience in a high school in virginia, urging congress to get to work. >> tell these members of congress they're supposed to be working for you. not working for special interests, not working for campaign contributions. they're working for you, the american people. and they need to deliver because they're not delivering right now. >> some harsh words for republicans from the president, but with the gop debate lear in las vegas just a few minutes away, it's a safe bet that they'll be returning the favor. roland martin joins us now, cnn political analyst and once again, kevin maddingley, former campaign strategist for mitt romney and former political analyst, david gergen. roland, you've just come into the conversation, let me start with you. the president's coming out swinging. >> he should. frankly, he had to take an

aggressive tact and he had to sound more populist. because if you think back to march 2009, they made a serious mistake when they were tone deaf and people were upset with aig bonuses and everyone was upset any they were trying to figure out what was going on so he has to frame it as such because that's where the anger is in the country. the question then, how do you move people to affect the members of congress when poll numbers become your job and they're on your side, but we haven't seen that reaction yet. that's the problem that he has. >> it's interesting, kevin. he's still going after congress, not yet, specifically at any of the candidates who are here tonight. still letting them fight amongst themselves. >> the strategy is pretty obvious, there's only one entity more popular than president obama obama in washington and that's congress. he'll try to run against congress. >> the senator the other night said our popularity is at 8%. that's pretty good. >> what's wrong with that 8%, right? >> yeah. >> the problem here is why it's a jarring message is he had

three years before he even proposed a jobs plan and the american people wanted action for the last three years and they haven't seen it. the economy has been in bad shape. he's failed on economic leadership, and i think that's why you're going to see so many of these republicans go after that issue because it's a huge vulnerabili vulnerability. >> the first stimulus bill you had job that. not like you didn't have any jobs in there. >> multiple stimulus plans and unemployment plan, semantics on how you talk about it. >> right now he's just treading water publicly. he's not connecting the way he once was. and i think he's sort of waiting now for the next sort of big event to come that he can shape. that may be response to whatever happens to the eurozone this weekend and hey has to work on next week, it will more likely be what comes out of the supercommittee, working on the deficit. talking to maybe today said it could be big. they don't know yet. but the president will have to be right in the middle of that fight. then he has to work with congress. he could get a compromise on

what could help him. potentially, it's going to be hard. the other issue that's out there that he's sort of been pulling at and taking a cover off is inequality of income in the country. these occupy wall street demonstrations, and they're spreading. they're starting to be taken more seriously by the mainstream media. and they're starting to put on the table the issue of inequality. and the president has to play this very carefully. he's clearly coming out for the demonstrators, but he has to be careful how he does it. i think it's a legitimate set of conversations. >> it is. the trouble that he has, though, is the economic team that he should have hired, the folks that wanted to deal with the inequality, he bypassed them for geithner and sumner, that's been his problem. when you have volcker and others who want to make systemic changes to wall street to get rid of all the crap that we saw and he chose not to go with them but chose to go with the team that put him in a position. how can he say the first guys were right, i should have

brought my "a" advisers in but i went with the other ones. >> that's his fault. he's the president of the united states. he can't blame anybody but himself. it all goes to the top. the other point that david made is waiting for moments to take place so that your fortune is in a better place is a very, very difficult place for a president to be. you want to be in control. you want to be able to drive your message. you want to be able to define the parameters of this debate. but right now he's not. >> i agree with that. but that's because he's weak and he's wounded. he has to find something around that can bring strength to him again. >> they've not been strong at going on the offensive with communications wise. we talk all the time about him giving a great speech, but his communications folks, frankly, have been weak. he's even said we've done great things that nobody knows. guess whose fault that is. >> all the communications in the world won't help somebody who doesn't have the right plan to put the nation in the right direction. >> we've got to leave it there. thanks to all three of you.

all right. thanks to all of you. appreciate it. we're just a few minutes away from the gop debate. wolf blitz are will come out front to count us down. we're getting excited. the audio level is rising here in las vegas. [ indistinct talking on radio ] [ tires screech ] [ crying ] [ applause ] [ laughs ] [ tires screech ] [ male announcer ] your life will have to flash by even faster. autodrive brakes on the cadillac srx activate after rain is detected to help improve braking performance. we don't just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs.

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you can see the countdown clock that we'll put up.

you can also probably hear the protesters. there have been various people protesting. these people are singing banks got bailed out, we got sold out. there have been other groups here protesting immigration, protesting gay rights, protesting a variety of issues. these obviously are -- there's racism protesting and this, obviously, is protesting about the banks and taxation. let's bring in wolf blitzer, anchor of cnn's "the situation room," john avlon for the daily beast and gloria borger, chief political analyst. we're seeing the american system in full swing on all sides. >> occupy las vegas, that's what they're doing. protesting, which is their right. >> that's right. it absolutely is. it's nice to see all the different things that they're talking about here. but let me ask you, who do you think tonight has the most approval? >> i think it's obvious rick perry, he's got a lot to do if he wants to come back.

he can come back. he's got millions of dollar. he never lost a race in texas all these years. he's got to prove he can stand up to the other republican candidates let alone if he were to get the republican nomination for president of the united states. he's got a lot to prove. >> obviously herman cain has to prove that he's a plausible president, but i also think that mitt romney has to start romancing republicans a little bit to get above that 25% level. he's got to show them a little bit more. and they have to learn to like mitt romney. if they don't love him, they have to like him. >> i like that, romance from mitt romney. >> he has not been able to close that deal to date. that 25% ceiling he's got is a fascinating dynamic in this race. but i'm looking for something different. i think the whole republican field is going to have to be out there in one specific way. they're going to need to put forward specific policy plans that don't simply do pumper sticker play to politics but thing that could pass the congress, innovative ideas that

can shape the debate. people here in nevada have 14% unemployment. they should be sick of the bumper sticker type of politics they get from these folks. that's not smart politics. >> barack obama had a lot of plans that couldn't pass the congress also. when he became president he started realizing this. >> i think we are at that point where we are ready for specifics, ideas, not just the play to the base slop that we get too often. >> it's hard, as someone who moderated the republican debates, the last one i did back in tampa, you give these candidates one minute to basically lay out their investigation, 30 seconds for reply. it's not that easy when you think about it. >> i thought the high points of all these debates is when you got them talking about what they would do if someone lost -- had no medical insurance and had a life threatening illness and had to make the decision. >> and they needed it. >> it may sound inhumane but there's an answer that's consistent with the policy and